Fighter jets escorted the American Airlines flight onto Miami runway

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MIAMI — Authorities say a cockpit hijacking alarm was mistakenly tripped on an American Airlines flight carrying more than 150 people, forcing fighter jets to escort the plane onto the runway in Miami.

Airline spokesman Tim Smith says Flight 535 was arriving Monday afternoon from San Juan, Puerto Rico, when the false alarm was reported. He says the cockpit transponder frequency was inadvertently switched to a frequency used when a plane is hijacked.

Fighter jets from Homestead Air Force Base escorted the Boeing 737 onto a remote area of the tarmac at Miami International Airport, and police secured the jet. No one was injured.

Smith says this was "very unusual."

The plane was carrying 148 passengers and six crew members.

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